The Invincible Aloof Yandere Princess Falls in Love with Her Younger Court Mage's Fatherly Warmth! ~She Clung to Him So Much That the King Fired Him. When He Made Marriage His Official Reason for Resigning Under Royal Order, the Light Vanished from the Princess's Eyes~

Chapter 35: After the Fierce Battle

—In the royal palace of the Atlas Kingdom, there’s an underground prison.

Not the kind for regular criminals, though. This one’s for political prisoners or people with high status.

Of course the cells are made of anti-magic steel, but on the surface they look exactly like a noble’s private chambers. High-quality furniture, clean and sanitary, and meals come three times a day prepared by actual cooks.

Yeah. So basically, this room I’m in right now—with the guy sitting across the table from me, Leo—is that kind of prison cell meant to hold him.

“Must be real tough, coming here day after day.”

Completely different vibe from the battlefield. Leo spoke while sitting there quietly. Looked like he still had zero intention of telling us anything.

Right… “us” meaning—

“How long you gonna keep running your mouth like that to our squad leader…!? You even get what kinda position you’re in right now?”

“Exactly! Wasting Master’s precious time… the time I could be getting training from him…! Have some shame, some damn shame!”

—Ignatz-san and Keirens-san, standing right behind me, were glaring and barking at Leo like that. Meanwhile, the only girl in the group, Lily-san, didn’t say a word—she just stood quietly in the very back, where it was hardest for me to see her.

And Leo’s response to them?

“—Bunch of small-fry who can only act tough because they’ve got anti-magic steel walls around ’em. Don’t forget—I could rip every single one of you apart with my bare strength alone…”

Man, that intimidation was something else. You couldn’t help but feel every word was dead serious.

“—!”

“Eek—! I-I didn’t say anything, okay!? I would never badmouth someone who fought on the same insane level as the squad leader… no way, not me!”

Lily-san just treated me like some kind of inhuman monster too, huh.

…Well, guess I should smooth things over for now.

“Don’t scare them too much, Leo. Don’t forget I can still fight even in a place like this.”

“Yeah, yeah, anti-magic steel doesn’t mean squat to a star trial user. …Still, these guys tag along every single time—can’t you just leave ’em behind?”

“It’s the mission our squad was given. This is work too, y’know.”

“I see… Sounds like you’ve got your own share of headaches.”

“Nah, it’s not like that…”

He had the exact face of a middle manager who’s seen some things. Come to think of it, during our fight the other day, Leo gave off that same kind of vibe in little ways here and there. If you really think about it, maybe we’re in pretty similar spots.

…But even so. Even if there are circumstances that might make you feel sorry for Leo, even if this whole assignment is just for show—one way or another, I’ve still gotta take the job seriously.

So with that.

“—If Leo’s not gonna tell us anything about the Supreme Star Church’s goals, or what happened to the missing Mel-chan, then fine. At the very least, how about you give us some harmless, low-level info about the inside of Jiikil again? Right, former vice-commander of the Jiikil Kingdom Knights—Leo Bastard.”

—It had already been a full week since the Atlas Kingdom’s founding anniversary.

That day, after our final clash, I put on an act: I lost to Leo.

I let the divine sword drop, went down on one knee, made it look like a hard-fought battle that I barely lost in the end—and that footage got sent out through the magic tool.

Of course I’d already talked it over with the princess. I had her stop the recording magic tool right at the decisive moment. After that, we just knocked Leo out and that was that.

Then we restrained both Leo and Mel-chan and headed back to the palace as a group. And naturally, the official story was that Suu-san was the one who defeated Leo in the end.

“—Phew. Stubborn as ever today too… Still keeping his mouth shut tight about the one thing we want to hear most.”

“But we can’t just force it out of him, right? We’d get protests from Jiikil and the Supreme Star Church and all that.”

“Indeed, it’s frustrating. And even with his ki and magic sealed, that level of pressure… Truly the man who bested our Master—…ah, no! I didn’t mean to speak ill of Master at all! If anything, seeing a mage push a top-class swordsman that far only deepens my respect…!”

“Haha, you don’t have to cover for me, Keirens-san. Honestly, Leo really was incredibly strong.”

We walked down the corridor together, chatting as we went.

That day, most of the palace staff and a ton of people from the capital had gathered, and apparently my fight got projected clearly up in the sky over the plaza.

The princess—who’s always prepared—had set up projection magic tools all over the place so I could shine whenever, and she kept a recording one on her at all times.

And a lot of the people who watched ended up misunderstanding my strength exactly the way we wanted: “A mage who’s supposed to be weak up close somehow managed to fight toe-to-toe with an insanely skilled swordsman.”

“…Is that really how it went? Squad leader, something about the whole thing felt kinda off to me. Up until the middle, your vibe was completely different from usual—like, exactly like back during that coup. …But then from partway through, it almost felt too… scripted, like everything was going according to plan—”

“—Did you say something, Lily-san?”

“—!? N-nope! Nothing at all!?”

Hmm. Guess we didn’t fool absolutely everyone perfectly. Still, it should’ve been good enough for most people.

…When I think about the princess, it’s better if I don’t show off too much power. I mean, if I flaunt an absurd level of star trial strength, some people might get the idea that her faction’s gotten way too powerful and start moving rashly.

That’s why I couldn’t accept her plan back then. Sure, it might’ve been convenient for keeping me safe—but from the princess’s safety and position, it wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Whenever we talk about this, even though she accepted it at the time, she still ends up pouting even now…

While I was thinking about all that, we reached our destination—the office that belongs to both me and the princess.

“—Alright, everyone. Today we’re reporting our results directly to the princess, and once that’s done we can call it a day. I’ll make sure to properly show off how hard you all worked, so don’t worry.”

“That would be a big help.”

“Master’s consideration… I’m truly grateful…!”

“…………I just kinda wanna go home already… maybe…”

Haha. One person who doesn’t look thrilled at all.

…Yeah, the princess’s impression of our squad is pretty, uh, intense right now. They’re not bad people, and they’re trying their best, so just hang in there a little longer…

Okay, here we go. I reached for the door—

“Hold up, squad leader. You sure it’s okay to skip knocking? I mean, yeah you’re her favorite and all, but she’s still a princess…”

“Oh, right. A little while back the princess actually got mad at me about it. ‘Knocking is way too formal. Since we made it the same office, I want to greet you like family coming home.’ That’s what she said.”

“Whoa… Guess we gotta listen to that, huh. …Still, seriously, what kinda relationship even is this?”

I can hear you, Ignatz-san.

Lately the princess has gotten a lot less reserved even in front of other people. Since we’re all in the same squad, they’re bound to see stuff like this a lot anyway, so I figured might as well let them get used to it…

So yeah, just get used to it already. Okay, going in, princess—

“—So tomorrow Al-kun can’t come here, okay? It’s a lovers’ day off, so Her Highness the Princess is just gonna have to deal with it.”

“…………!! So annoying, so annoying, so ANNOYING!! What the hell, acting all smug!!”

“Uh… That’s… Division Commander Clay, right?”

“As expected of Master. Even in that area…”

“I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t see anything.”

Oh man… yeah, this is… a little…

Yeah, I figured everyone would make that face…